AERA

// Software // Atari ST

EHypView

A hypertext viewer for the Atari ST, STE, TT and Falcon: EHypView reads and searches .HYP hypertexts, the help that Atari programs come with.

EHypView icon: an Atari monitor showing two pages, with a green arrow leading from a blue link on one page to the other

Program and desk accessory // AERA | Erez Yaary

  • ST
  • STE
  • TT
  • Falcon
The library over the viewer: five hypertexts grouped by subject, the guides of EMail, EFTP, EContact, ECal and EHypView, under one search field.

The library over the viewer: five hypertexts grouped by subject, the guides of EMail, EFTP, EContact, ECal and EHypView, under one search field.

Download EHypView 1.20View on GitHubUser guide

Latest release v1.2022 Oct 2026EHYPVIEW-1.20.zipFree, GPL v2

Every hypertext on your drives, found by itself, searched from one box, and opened when any program asks for help.

The Story

EHypView reads the .HYP hypertexts that Atari programs come with. It runs as a program with a menu bar or as a desk accessory, and installed as ST-GUIDE.ACC it is the viewer other programs open when you press Help. Pages show as they were written, with styled text, links, lines, boxes and pictures, in colour wherever the screen has it.

It finds the hypertexts by itself: the folders named in ST-GUIDE.INF or in its own Settings, and \GUIDES and \GEMSYS\GUIDES on every drive, scanned in the background and kept in an index, so there is no ALL.REF to maintain. The library lists them by subject under one search box, which finds page names as you type and searches the full text of every page on Return.

Getting started

  1. Copy EHYPVIEW.PRG into any folder and start it. It keeps its index (EHYPVIEW.IDX), its list of fonts (EHYPVIEW.FNT) and any CRASH.LOG next to itself, so a folder of its own (such as C:\EHYPVIEW\) keeps them together; its settings, EHYPVIEW.INF, go in the root of the boot drive. It opens the hypertext given on its command line, else DEFHYP (or HYPTOP) from the ST-GUIDE.INF in your boot drive’s root, else the library. To open a .HYP with a double-click, install EHYPVIEW.PRG in your desktop as the application for HYP files.
  2. To have EHypView inside every program, copy EHYPVIEW.ACC to the root of your boot drive and restart. To be the help viewer for every program, copy it there as ST-GUIDE.ACC instead (in place of any accessory with that name): that is the name programs look for when you press Help.
  3. Keep your hypertexts (each .HYP with its .REF) where EHypView looks for them, including all subfolders: the folders you add in Options > Settings… (PATHS in EHYPVIEW.INF); the folders in PATHS and HYPFOLD, and the folder of REF, from ST-GUIDE.INF; and \GUIDES and \GEMSYS\GUIDES on every drive from C: on. Copy EHYPVIEW.HYP and EHYPVIEW.REF into one of them too (or next to EHYPVIEW.PRG): Help > EHypView guide opens it. EHypView looks through these folders in the background and keeps an index, so only new or changed files are read again.
  4. Press ^L for the library, Help for the hypertext’s help page (in the library, EHypView’s guide), ^, for the settings, and the right mouse button for a menu.

Highlights

  • Finds every hypertext by itself: the folders in ST-GUIDE.INF or its Settings, and \GUIDES on every drive, kept in an index.
  • A library with one search box: page names as you type, the full text of every page on Return.
  • Links that lead somewhere, into any hypertext in the index; one that leads nowhere suggests the closest names.
  • Help for your other programs: installed as ST-GUIDE.ACC, it answers every program’s Help key.
  • Pages as they were written: pictures and coloured text in every screen mode, from mono to true colour.
  • A toolbar with back and forward, contents, index, see also, the library and bookmarks.
  • Several windows and bookmarks: up to six windows, and pages kept to come back to.
  • Modern but Atari: menu bar or desk accessory, right-click menu, drag and drop, clipboard and iconify.

Requirements

  • Any ST, STE, TT or Falcon, with 1 MB or more
  • TOS, EmuTOS, MagiC or MiNT (MultiTOS, XaAES, N.AES)
  • A screen 640 pixels wide or more
  • Optional: NVDI, SpeedoGDOS or another GDOS, for more fonts

In the download

EHYPVIEW.PRGthe viewer as a program, with a menu bar
EHYPVIEW.ACCthe same viewer as a desk accessory (one program under two names)
EHYPVIEW.HYP, EHYPVIEW.REFthe user guide, and its index for ST-Guide
EHYPVIEW.RSC, EHYPVIEW.ICN, EHYPVWMK.ICNthe desktop icon, in the zip’s icons/ folder

Credits

  • Written by AERA | Erez Yaary
  • Free software under the GNU GPL, version 2 or later
  • Test files compiled with HypView’s hcp, used as an external tool only; no HypView code included
  • Tested on hardware: Atari 1040 ST (4 MB) and Falcon030 with DFB1
  • Tested in emulation: ST (1 MB and 4 MB), TT030 and Falcon030, with TOS 1.04, 3.06, 4.04 and EmuTOS

// Works with

The AERA family

All Atari ST software

ECal

Opens its guide in EHypView when you press Help.

EMail

Opens its guide in EHypView when you press Help.

ClaudeST

Opens its guide in EHypView when you press Help.

Back to Atari ST software